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Britain in hot water over alleged Taliban meetings

AM - Thursday, 27 December , 2007 08:00:00

Reporter: Stephanie Kennedy

ELEANOR HALL: Tensions between the Afghan Government and the international community are rising over the expulsion of two high-ranking foreign officials who will leave Afghanistan later today.

The Afghan Government ordered the officials from the United Nations and the European Union to leave the country because of accusations that they'd met with Taliban insurgents.

Now Britain may also find itself in direct conflict with the Afghan Government over allegations that some of its officials have held meetings with the Taliban.

In London, Stephanie Kennedy reports.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The acting head of the European Union's mission in Afghanistan, Michael Semple, and senior UN official Mervyn Patterson, were declared persona non grata by the Kabul administration for "threatening national security".

The pair has been accused of holding talks with the Taliban in Helmand Province in the south.

Rory Stewart is a former diplomat, and he now runs a charity aimed at regenerating parts of Afghanistan.

RORY STEWART: These are two of the very best known international experts in Afghanistan. Both of them have lived in Afghanistan for more than 10 years, through the Civil War period, through the Taliban period, and now through the recent government. They speak local languages fluently and they're two of the only people who are able to travel freely in these very dangerous insurgency areas, largely because of their good relationship, built up over 10 years.

It's a very serious loss to the international community.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: And he says the Afghan Government's decision to expel them is a worrying sign.

RORY STEWART: I think it's very disturbing. This is the kind of action one would normally associate with the Soviet Union, not with a country which is financed almost entirely by America and Europe and is supposed to be a liberal democratic state.

And it raises the question, of course, of what exactly the Afghan Government is trying to hide, because they've deliberately targeted two people who are probably some of the people who know more about Afghanistan than anyone else, and is the reason they're expelling them that they're worried that these people might reveal that there's more support for the Taliban in the south than the Afghan Government is prepared to acknowledge.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The row comes as a British newspaper revealed that members of Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, held meetings earlier this year with senior Taliban members in Afghanistan.

That could prove embarrassing for the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, after he recently denied there were any talks with the Taliban.

GORDON BROWN: Let me make it clear at the outset that as part of a coalition we are winning the battle against the Taliban insurgency, we are isolating and eliminating the leadership of the Taliban, we are not negotiating with them.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Analysts on the ground in Afghanistan say that talking to the insurgents does go on, it just depends on how you define the Taliban - are they just the religious extremists or the tribal chiefs that back them who can be persuaded to support the Government?

Alastair Crooke is a former EU mediator. He now tries to engage in dialogue with both peaceful and armed Islamist groups. He explains the difficulties of talking to those fighting the Afghan Government and Western forces.

ALASTAIR CROOKE: I think there are different factions within the Taliban, and there are those that evidently are contemplating some form of a return to having a say, or at least to being participants in the governance of Afghanistan, and are looking to finding a way back, if you like, into some sort of power sharing arrangement.

And I think it's likely that the authorities there, or at least the European governments and the UN, must be thinking about the possibility of trying to bring a more inclusive government in Afghanistan, in order to stabilise it for the longer term.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The UN hopes the misunderstanding can be resolved and the pair will be able to return to Afghanistan soon.